March dad and grandad braves the shave shedding 17gs of hair and raising £300 for local hospice
A Fenland family man faced the clippers to shed his hair and beard in a fundraising bid to help a local hospice.
Kevin Purse from March teased the event with a poster of himself dressed in his biker goggles asking: "how much will all that hair weigh".
The move came before the coronavirus lock-down was announced, when Kevin, a father of three daughters and a grandad, planned to make his bald move at the first bike night meeting at the Coffee Tree Xperience on the A47, which was due to take place today (Wednesday).
But with concern over the pandemic growing Kevin, who raised £300 in sponsorship, took the decision to face the clippers on Mother's Day instead just getting it in before the lock-down was announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"We could see what was going to happen, so I cancelled the planned head and beard shave and my daughter Kim did it at home instead," said Kevin, who had been growing both beard and hair since September.
"Both me and my wife, Karen, had our heads shaved in September at our youngest daughter Gemma's wedding to raise money for the Macmillan Nurses and raised over £500, we raised another £60 with a tin on the day, which we gave to the Ring the Bell Charity for children with cancer at Peterborough City Hospital," he added.
"Since then I've not had my hair cut or trimmed my beard in preparation for this latest headshave. This time I was doing it for the terminal care hospice at Thorpe Park, which is part of Sue Ryder. I didn't want to do it for the Sue Ryder charity, because that goes into the national pot, and I wanted the money I raised to be used locally.
"The wife of one of my biker friends died recently of cancer and was treated there," said Kevin, whose family have a history of fundraising.
His eldest daughter Katie Rodwell, 38, regularly runs hamper raffles via Facebook with her eldest daughter, Paige Briggs,for charity, despite undergoing treatment for stage 4 cancer herself. Katie was diagnosed with cervical cancer over three years ago, but the disease has spread including to her brain.
The Emneth mum has been told by doctors to make memories and last year she travelled to America where she underwent pioneering stem cell treatment, as well as enjoying a trip to Disneyland Florida with three of her four children.
Katie breeds Labrador dogs and regularly gives one or two puppies from each litter to train as Guide Dogs for the Blind or as service dogs for those who need a helping hand with household tasks.
Paige also makes and sells silver jewellery with all profits going to charity. They currently have two hamper raffles running in the lead up to Easter.
The family have also raised money for the Alzheimer's Society through Kevin's birthday, which with the help of a matched-donation from Lloyds bank amounted to £1,000.
"We like to do what we can to help charity. Losing my hair seemed a good way to do that, although I must admit it feels a bit cold at the moment - but then it did weigh over 17 grammes, once it was all off, so it was like a blanket,"concluded Kevin.
